When producing an electronic image by scanning the field of view by, for example, infra-red detectors and converting the signals sensed by the detectors to electronic picture elements for reproduction on a video-screen, an inevitable distortion arises in certain types of scanning devices. This distortion occurs due to the fact that the scanning lines associated with a certain elevation are longer than scanning lines associated with a smaller elevation while the sampling frequency is the same. Consequently when the sensed picture elements are reproduced in a rectangular electronic picture on a video-screen, the picture points which in reality are situated above each other, will be displaced laterally, the points having smaller elevation lying nearer to the center of the picture than the points having greater elevation. Consequently vertical objects will be reproduced as inclined and in the case the picture is built up of a number of band-shaped partial pictures, a long vertical object will be reproduced as a number of inclined parts forming a saw-tooth profile. Such devices are previously known. See British Pat. Nos. 1,361,145 and 1,361,144, for example.
Theoretically it would be possible to solve the problem by supplying the picture elements on the different lines to the TV-monitor with different frequencies for each line. This is however difficult as it is difficult to obtain sufficiently constant and exact frequencies. Another possibility is to omit certain samples with definite serial number on the long lines. The drawback in this case is that information will be lost.